El Catrin Restaurant & Bar — Restaurant in San Antonio

Something i tell visitors to San Antonio all the time is that San Antonio is full of just average Mexican food with a few really good ones. El Catrin unfortunately today at least fell into the former category; average at Best. At a Mexican restaurant, 95% of them can be judged on the chips and salsa they bring out before the meal. Home made, spicy salsa and home made chips... probably gonna be a good one. Generic salsa or some weird concoction of their own in place of salsa with bulk tortilla chips?.... Probably not gonna be that good. Well this place started of with bulk chips and i don't even know what the salsa was supposed to be .. i think it was some spicyish salad dressing.. what? No.. the BIGGEST red flag at any restaurant for me is the old, "be careful, that plates are really hot". This means the food has been sitting in the back for who knows how long, they toss it on a plate, put it in the microwave and bring it to you. The best restaurants, have room temp plates and hot food. Today their plates came out streaming hot and all of our food was room temp at Best. I had the enchilada trio and while the sauce was luke warm, the chicken inside was almost cold. My wife got the Chile relleno with picadillo inside. A chile relleno is supposed to be either deep fried or baked, either way, it's supposed to be a bit crispy on the outside and hot inside. My wife's was very soggy and the meat inside was room temp; she only ate two bites. Lastly my son got the street tacos with chicken. He ate one and was done.. He hated them.. my wife and i had water and son had a Coke (from a can). The total bill was around $50 a bit steep. All this being said, the staff was very nice, the place seemed clean and there is a bar. Maybe thier drinks are better. Unfortunately their food, while the presentation was pretty, is at best just average or even a little below average.. I'd say a 4 out of 10. I can't...

First time in this restaurant, definitely looking forward to returning. We entered and were quickly greeted, and we're told it was open seating. So this means that you pick a table and a staff member will come over and greet you. Thus, we selected a table not too far from the door. I will note that you can tell this by the pictures and videos I've posted.

After we sat down, we were greeted by our our staff member, Jamie, who was very pleasant, customer oriented, and professional during our entire lunch. We explained it was our first time here, as she gave us the menus. She made some suggestions and later returned with two (2) cold waters for our beverages, and some chips and salsa. The salsa is made in-house, and really has got a nice flavor and an appropriate amount of heat. I mean it's not too hot / spicy and not too bland.

I ordered the beef enchilada plate and my guest ordered the chicken enchilada plate. For both plates, the rice and beans were well done and very tasty. The enchiladas were also very tasty, and covered with a light mole or chili con-carne sauce. I also ended up taking the hot sauce that came with the chips and salsa and put it on my enchiladas, as I like my food a little bit spicy.

There is a bar area that you can sit at and eat or just watch the sports as you'll see in one of the pictures. There's arevsome TVs above the bar. Also, I did notice that there was a mother that brought in a young baby intothe restaurant. So, I noticed that they had a high chair for that baby, and it wasn't too loud for the baby.

I also asked how long the restaurant had been here and opened and was told it was approximately 2 to 3 years. It's a nice quaint little restaurant, that I think you will like, if you decide to stop in. I believe you'll be more than pleased with your experience, and just hope your experience is as good or better than mine (which...

El Catrín has good food. We had to wait 30 minutes, but that’s because they have plenty of people coming in to try their food. They should probably invest in a few more tables outside, but they had one that we used to wait. The food was good. I wish they gave a little more rice on their enchilada plates because it tastes good and leaves you wanting more. The Tlapeño was very good! I am a soup person, so good soup makes me happy. I love vegetables! The enchiladas verdes made with green tomatoes and Enmoladas, made with mole sauce were good. The atmosphere is nice also. The treatment is good. They got my 15% tip because they took good care of us. Our server wasn’t the only one who came and asked if all was well. I enjoyed the time with my family. Their salsas are pretty good, too. On my first time, I went and got the Green Chicken Breast. It was very good. I was disappointed that this time I went with my family they didn’t bring the green salsa to us. I should have asked but forgot. Anyhow, this is a total of two visits, and they both went well. The food is very good, and I recommend everyone visits. And, for some, the food may be a little pricey for the amount you get, but it isn’t as bad as other restaurants that probably don’t get that many people visiting. I’ve tried superb Mexican food. This is just great Mexican food, and because SA doesn’t have that many superb or great Mexican authentic food, and most are just good, I rate...